#258: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message (1982)

Zack: I’ve been thinking a lot about the legacy of rappers lately, partially because I think it’s an interesting topic and partially because it affords me an opportunity to stop thinking about other, real-life stuff. What brought me to this topic was the release of Eminem’s latest album, Marshall Mathers LP 2. Beyond just the title, the album is often a blatant reflection on his legacy as an artist and where he’s matured and where (more often) he’s just the same as he was back when the Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers LP were both being denied to prepubescent children across the land by parents who didn’t find being regaled by tales of stapling English teachers nuts to stacks of paper as obviously fantastic as they clearly are. MMLP2 is, overall, a pretty good album that has a handful of absolutely brilliant moments. More importantly, it’s my second favorite rap album of the 2013. Now obviously I can’t listen to everything and this could certainly change if Atmosphere somehow set a date for their “late 2013” release. Still, considering this was Eminem’s eighth studio album and his best since his fourth (The Eminem Show – also the first one I was actually allowed to get), it’s a pretty impressive accomplishment. Also impressive is the two rappers on either side of his. Kanye West’s Yeezus (his seventh solo album) and Jay-Z’s Magna Carta…Holy Grail (his eleventh solo album) take the pole position and a distant third, respectively. Staying power is actually achievable for modern hip-hop artists. Meanwhile, there’s Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. On the strength of just one song, they’ve had some of their material preserved in the Library of Congress and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One. Song. That’s incredible. And that’s not to say that all of The Message (the album) isn’t fantastic – it is. But it’s that one song, that seven minutes right at the end, that cemented a legacy. After that, well there’s White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It) that I guess add to Melle Mel’s status as one of the top socially conscious guys to ever bless the mic, but even them I’ve always just rolled my eyes at that song as just another example of 80s cheesiness. Like any copies of the record sold should come with a sticker of the Gipper with a perm giving a thumbs up. That’s pretty much it, but that was more than enough to book time at the Grammy’s for a reunion more than 25 years later. And the early years of hip-hop are littered with similar stories (see: Blow, Curtis). But now? The rap world – the one created by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five – is one where artists can actually achieve consistent commercial and critical success. The genre has progressed wildly since the final seven minutes of The Message came out, but I don’t think any of that change would be possible if the annals of rap were short those seven minutes.

Favorite Tracks: The Message; She’s Fresh; You Nasty

Emily: What I didn't realize about Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five before today is that The Message is essentially their only album. They broke up soon after, reunited in '88 with most of the the full lineup, and then disbanded entirely save for the reunion at the Grammy's a few years back. I thought they were significantly more prolific than that - they are certainly well-known and well-respected, enough to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame no less. But no, The Message is their one and only success, and its title track their long-lasting legacy. Every hip-hop group in the '80s seems to be like that, except for Run-DMC, and perhaps others that have slipped my mind. But each one has become so influential because they shaped the genre that has become one of the most popular, prolific, and critically acclaimed 30+ years later. I see that with The Message, as an album but more specifically with the song. It draws from funk and other sounds of the era, bringing the beats together with rhymes and tongue twisting lyrics - some silly, some serious, but all fitting together to help shape what hip-hop was, is, and will become.

Favorite Tracks: The Message; She's Fresh; Dreamin'

#257: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976)

Emily: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is one of those bands that's always around, but I don't really know anyone who's actually a big fan of them. Or even anyone who could name more than 2 of their songs off the top of their heads. But yet, every summer they're touring outdoor amphitheaters and headlining music festivals, somehow drawing huge crowds year after year after year. My exposure to Petty has been limited, albeit, so I had hoped that listening to this album would shed some light on the Heartbreakers ongoing popularity. Well, 30-some minutes later, I still don't get it. This self-titled debut is a perfectly pleasant collection of American rock-and-roll songs, and would probably work quite well as background tunes at a summer barbecue. But, beyond the classic American Girl, it wasn't anything that special. Certainly not worth paying arena or festival prices to see live. But hey, maybe their whole catalog is a bit more impressive than this just-okay debut.
Favorite Tracks: American Girl; Breakdown; Strangered in the Night

Zack: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are such a perfect representation of Americana rock and roll that arguably their most well-known song was featured in a Scrubs montage. I know of no higher honor. And, as JD so eloquently puts it, “Wow.” American Girl is what we – in the modern day – would refer to as a “banger.” I also like to think that The Guess Who traveled forward in time, heard it, then decided to upgrade the subject to woman status before penning their own masterpiece. Anyway, Tom Petty’s debut is loaded with heartland rock jams like American Girl, and I can certainly appreciate it for that. I’d never listened to this album, but I went through a pretty hard Full Moon Fever phase a few years back that prepared me for the Tom Petty Experience. No song is ever too deep that it requires real concentration. They’re all simple, yet still elegant. Their debut is no different: it’s not the most challenging of albums, but it’s still plenty enjoyable.

Favorite Tracks: American Girl; Anything That’s Rock ‘N’ Roll; Luna

#256: Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue (1998)

Zack: I have absolutely no experience with the music of either Billy Bragg or Woody Guthrie (whose lyrics are being sung here). But I’ve now listened to enough Wilco that people just assume I’m middle age due to my exposure to Dad rock. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as has been documented here, was an eye-opening album for me on what I had been missing. Since then, I’ve moved through several more of their albums and enjoyed them (although certainly nothing has compared to the brilliance of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart). Anyway, Jeff Tweedy’s presence here was enough of a sell for me to move all in on this album before I even pressed play. I rated my excitement at a 9 out of 10, which is pretty damn good for any album that I haven’t seen ranked on a “Top 10 Albums That Will Make You Weep Openly and Without Shame” list. Mermaid Avenue definitely lived up to that hype too. It had the folksy appeal that Wikipedia tells me I should cherish from Guthrie, but there was more complexity to the actual music to match the insightfulness of the lyrics. Because of the nature of this album, I don’t really know who to attribute my enjoyment of it too, so I’ll just say a hearty thank you to all parties involved that brought Mermaid Avenue Volume 1 (and the subsequent Volume 2 which I plan on listening to post-haste) into existence.

Favorite Tracks: California Stars; At My Window Sad and Lonely; Eisler on the Go

Emily: What I loved about this album was just how it came together. You see, Woody Guthrie left behind more than 1000 unrecorded songs upon his death, and Guthrie's daughter approached Billy Bragg to see if he was interested in recording some of them. The catch is, however, that Guthrie didn't write any music for the songs, just lyrics with very limited musical notation. It was essentially a giant catalog of poems, but instead of publishing them in a posthumous anthology, Guthrie's daughter thought it would be best to carry out the music in her late father's folk tradition. Bragg, recruiting Wilco along the way, was tasked with turning unfinished folk poems into folk songs, all while keeping the spirit of Woody Guthrie alive in the recordings. It was a tall order indeed, and it was accomplished beautifully in Mermaid Avenue. Without this background knowledge, it would be impossible to tell that the music and lyrics of these songs were separately developed decades apart by men who probably never even met each other. I think Guthrie would be pleased with how Bragg and Wilco melded their own musical senses and spirits with the spirit of his lyrics. Each song takes the emotional tone of the lyrics and reflects it in the music, as if the two were always meant to be together. 

Favorite Tracks: California Stars; Hoodoo Voodoo; Birds and Ships

#255: Kate Bush - The Dreaming (1982)

Emily: Hello again! It's been quite a while since we last posted, which is mostly my fault. You see, Zack and I have started grad school and law school, respectively, and said at the beginning of the semester we would try to get through 20 albums by the end. But then the crushing amount of work that comes along with graduate studies took hold, and I started to slack on my album listening. Zack decided to stop too, so he wouldn't get ridiculously far ahead of me. Now here we are, 3 months since our last post and 2 days from our last finals, and with renewed vigor and a significant increase in free time we return to our humble blogging pursuits. We start back on a somewhat obscure note with Kate Bush. As is the case with a lot of the early-80's alternative on this list, Bush was big in England but less so stateside. Her sound is certainly unique and borders on strange, which may explain why it failed to take off in a country still weaning itself off disco. I thought it was a good kind of strange though, not off-putting like a Captain Beefheart, but an engaging kind of strange that made me pay attention and listen closely. Bush takes dreamy art-pop and twists it into something experimental and new, with sounds ranging from spacey synths to a rolling didgeridoo. Sounds weird, but it makes total sense once you take notice.
Favorite Tracks: Sat in Your Lap; The Dreaming; All the Love

Zack: If both Bjork and Big Boi cite an album as one of their favorites of all time, you know it must be good.  And, yeah, The Dreaming is definitely worthy of both of their appreciations. From start to finish, it finds inventive ways to combine a sort of ethereal, swirling feel (a la Bjork) with some early alternative sentiments. You can tell it’s a true artist feeling out her ability to experiment. In a way, it almost reminds me of the last few Kanye album; someone trying to push the boundaries of a genre they’ve been placed in as far as they can. I don’t know much (anything, really) about Kate Bush’s music beyond this one album I’ve listened to. But if the rest of her stuff is as ambitious as this, then I’ve got some catching up to do.

Favorite Tracks: Night of the Swallow; Sat in Your Lap; The Dreaming

#254: Blondie - Parallel Lines (1978)

Emily: When I was around 7 or 8, my gymnastics class did our recital routine to One Way or Another, probably the most well-known single from Parallel Lines. Granted, it was approximately 1998 and we were in the second grade, so we didn't actually use the Blondie version. Instead, it was a cover from The Rugrats Movie that I'm pretty sure was sung by Angelica Pickles. Of course, I thought it was awesome. I realized later, though, that the original version was even more awesome. However, I didn't like Parallel Lines as a whole as much as I liked the song. I really like Blondie when they take new wave and pop and add something totally different - a rock edge in Call Me or One Way or Another, disco in Heart of Glass, and even hip-hop in Rapture. Otherwise, however, the music was catchy but just not that exciting. A few tracks show their potential for pop-crossover greatness, but it seems that it took them a few years to really develop their sound. This is Blondie's only album featured on the list, so I'll have to take some time to check out their later albums.
Favorite Tracks: One Way or Another; Heart of Glass; 11:59

Zack: I didn’t really know what to expect form Blondie other than One Way or Another, perhaps the most montage-able song of all time. What I got was a pop rock masterpiece, sort of like a Sister Sisters ancestor. From start to finish, Parallel Lines was unstoppably catchy, yet never really bordered on corny like so many other New Wave bands of the era. Blondie clearly managed to avoid many of the pitfalls of their contemporaries while putting together an album with the exact same spirit.

Favorite Tracks: Will Anything Happen; One Way or Another; Fade Away and Radiate

#253: Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Shaka Zulu (1987)

Emily: The only I (and probably most people) have heard of Ladysmith Black Mambazo is from Mean Girls. Cady is supposed to go to Madison with her parents for a concert and decides to throw her party instead and her mom gets mad and says, "But you love Ladysmith Black Mambazo!" And thus, when we came to this album I had to choose it. However, it seems that Cady made the right choice to skip the concert. Shaka Zulu can best be described as a cappella African folk music. It's certainly an acquired taste. I liked a couple songs, especially the hand-clap love song Hello My Baby, but overall I wasn't really a fan. The songs all kind of sound the same, but their simplicity could perhaps lead to interesting live interpretations and improvisation.
Favorite Tracks: Hello My Baby; Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain; King of Kings

Zack: Every time we’re due to cover a world music album, I try to send Emily three albums representing vastly different cultures and musical influences. She almost always chooses the salsa one, to varying degrees of success. So this time I forced her hand. I picked almost all African-oriented albums, and it seems to have blown up in my face. I really disliked this album. It was just so stripped down that I found it boring. I probably should have been prepared for that, given my aggressive apathy towards Graceland. But there was just no preparing for how simplistic each song was going to be. Maybe I’m just uncultured, but I just couldn’t wait to be done and move on.

Favorite Tracks: King of Kings; Hello My Baby; Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain 

#252: Dexys Midnight Runners - Too-Rye-Ay (1982)

Emily: As a big fan of any and all Vh1 shows featuring the '80s, one-hit wonders, and countdowns, I am exceedingly familiar with Dexys Midnight Runners in the context of their one and only American hit, Come On Eileen. Their impossibly catchy song and ridiculous hillbilly-farmer-meets-the-city-and-plays-the-fiddle video have popped up on I Love the '80s, the 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders, the 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s, the Greatest '80s One-Hit Wonders, and I Love the One-Hit Wonders of the '80s (okay, I made that last one up, but you can't argue that it doesn't fit perfectly with the others). This one song has brought the band so much recognition even to this day, but why didn't they take off more than that? Honestly, after listening to Too-Rye-Ay, I really don't know. Dexys Midnight Runners make great pop music; here, it's infused with a bit of country-rock fiddling and a bit of new-wavey vibes. Sounds weird, but it totally works. Come On Eileen is certainly the best song on the album, but a few others could have been singles. I guess America just wasn't ready for Dexy in 1982 - or not until Vh1 started making '80s nostalgia shows.

Favorite Tracks: Come On Eileen; All in All (This One Last Wild Waltz); Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)

Zack: The jury is still out on why, exactly, Dexys Midnight Runners have three albums on the list when only one of said albums contains Come on Eileen. But this is the one with Come on Eileen and it is a lot better than expected. On a scale of 1 to 10, I put my interest in this album at a 3 before listening. But I was proven wrong, because Too-Rye-Ay is sort of a masterpiece of pop music that blended a lot of styles into a really cohesive album. It sort of reminded me of Madness, but a lot better (not to be interpreted as a knock on Madness). Obviously, the big takeaway is the best single and final song on the album, Come on Eileen. But there were one or two other songs that I had no clue were by DMR as well as a few songs that I hadn’t heard before but really enjoyed anyway. Too-Rye-Ay was a really great album by a band that should probably be known for more than just one song.

Favorite Tracks: Come On Eileen; The Celtic Soul Brothers; Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile